It’ll Be Different This Time, Charlie Brown
Sep 22nd, 2006 at 11:52 pm by Susie
How stupid can they be? How many more times will the Democrats fall for the same goddamned trick?
They really thought they could sit back on this and it would make them look tough on national security. Hah hah, joke’s on them - and us:
The House response all but settles an intraparty squabble and puts congressional Democrats in a difficult spot six weeks before elections in which they hope to wrest many House and Senate seats from the GOP. Some of the Democrats’ liberal constituents dislike the bill, viewing it as a green light for President Bush to resume a CIA policy of interrogating foreign terrorism suspects with harsh techniques that some critics consider torture. But to oppose the compromise, which Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has embraced, would subject them to charges of being soft on terrorism, several analysts said.
Many Democrats would undoubtedly like to change the bill, “but probably those in competitive races will just have to stay behind McCain,” said political scientist Bruce Cain, director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. A House Democratic leadership aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss political strategy, said: “We had really hoped the White House had caved, but it’s looking more and more like the senators caved.” [...]
Republicans, meanwhile, signaled plans to trumpet their newfound unity and attack Democrats even if only a handful oppose the bill. The office of House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) released a statement saying that “while Democrats talk out of both sides of their mouth, Republicans are working together . . . to provide predictability and clear guidance to both our military and civilian personnel so they may continue to keep Americans safe.”
Punked by Karl. Again. They planned this all along.
That is not sitting well with liberal activists, whose energy will be important to Democrats on Election Day. Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, called the legislation a “get out of jail free” card for the administration’s “top torture officials.” She said it would render the Geneva Conventions’ protections “irrelevant and unenforceable.”
Democratic political strategists at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research encouraged Democrats to challenge Republicans on national security issues. Jeremy Rosner, senior vice president, said polling suggests that Bush’s focus on security matters in the past weeks may have helped his personal approval ratings, but it has harmed Republican lawmakers by elevating anxieties over Iraq.
“There is much more room than people have guessed for Democrats to engage on this issue, to get heard and even to win,” he stressed.
They fucked up. Again. These fucking ball-less wonders did it again.
Arghhhhh…………
(And how about that Washington Post, by the way? “Harsh techniques that some critics consider torture.” Like it’s an opinion!)
Susie,
Please go read Steve Gilliard’s take on this. The post is called ‘A Bit of Conjuring’.
like I said, I’m likely staying home this year. or voting third party.
these assholes have no inherent right to my vote, and I’m not rewarding bad behavior.
and that is as true for the nationals (casey? please: his stance on the environment doesn’t balance out the host of stances that i disagree with), as it is for the local machine dems here in Philadelphia.
The Dems have two easy ways out –
1. Put a secret hold on the bill.
2. Introduce an amendment that none of this is retroactive — whatever violations of FISA that have occurred to date are punishable. Let the GOP talk their way out of that.
Duh, Part Deux
Duh. Should anybody be surprised McCain and Graham ‘compromised’ and gave Bush all the wiggle room he would need. Saying the Geneva Conventions will be respected at the same time you give interpretation of the Conventions to the man who hasn’t r…
Antifa!
Excellent suggestion, you Rovian plant!
#1 Secret Hold?!
Sure, and the bloggers will quickly out the holder (hmmm… could it be a Dem?) like they did a couple weeks ago and now the Dems will not only be weak, but arrogant and secretive.
#2 No Retroactivity?
Two Answers:
a. Right! Like you could possibly explain what the hell that means in a way that any normal person would understand.
b. “We’ll keep protecting America with our new legislation, but the Dems want our intelligence agents and soldiers put on trial by foreign countries and the UN for the work they’ve done to protect us from terrorists since 9/11!
Now tell me again why you think Bush is dumb…
Bush is dumb (albeit not as dumb as he seems).
He didn’t think any of this stuff up himself.
[...] Are we clear? A crystal from Marty Lederman : “The Administration has been suggesting that it would somehow be inappropriate for the legislation, or the Senators, to say specifically which techniques the law would prohibit, i.e., that the law must remain so opaque that the Congress and the public don’t have any idea what it does and does not prohibit. Think about that.” Argh. [...]